Cape Town — Eric Tinkler was left fuming on the side of the touchline as he could only look on as his team Cape Town City once again gifted away two valuable Dstv Premiership points at the Mbombela Stadium.
City were held to a 2-2 all draw by TS Galaxy and had to be content with only taking away one point from a match that they had controlled throughout.
"Two stupid decisions. Absolutely poor!" a visibly irate Tinkler said after the game. "The first error maybe you can understand, but then you sell yourself again. It should have been an easy win for us today, so I am extremely disappointed.
"Especially for a player of that calibre and that experience can't be making those mistakes. You can't be serious. We controlled the match to be brutally honest. We started like a house on fire. We got caught in the only way they could hurt us which was on the counter, which I explained at halftime was disappointing.
"But talk is cheap. Results is what counts. Winning games is what counts. The players need to realize that. The player that came on didn't do that. It cost it for everyone and you can see the disappointment on everyone's faces," added the former Bafana hardman.
The Citizens enjoyed 57% of the possession and had numerous chances to bury the match that had started with a manic three-minute opening spell.
City shocked their hosts when midfielder Mduduzi Mdantsane struck a sweet volley into the back of the net for the visitors to storm into a 1-0 lead within the first minute of the match.
However, the goal seemed to awake Galaxy from their slumber though as Mxolisi Macuphu equalised just two minutes later for the Rockets from close range.
The goal rush died down after the early exchanges for the next hour as City took control of the game through their slick passing and movement off the ball. The width created down the flanks through the electric pace of Bradley Ralani and Craig Martin certainly had Galaxy in all sorts of trouble.
However, the Citizens were not converting their possession into anything substantial on the scoreboard just yet, although they almost replicated their first-minute goal in the second half when Craig Martin thought he had tucked away City's second goal immediately after the resumption.
However, Martin had drifted marginally off-side just prior to collecting the pass from Ralani, who had broken free from the Galaxy defence.
City were though not to be denied and fully deserved their second goal - albeit it was a touch fortunate after Galaxy goalkeeper Vasilije Kolak could only parry a powerful shot from Fagrie Lakay straight into the path of the advancing Mdantsane. The Serbian shot-stopper should have done much better and could only look on as Mdantsane tapped home his second goal of the afternoon.
Mdantsane had an opportunity to complete his hat-trick just two minutes later when the ball once again fell at his feet in a prime position, but on this occasion the Bafana Bafana midfielder could not direct his shot from the edge of the box as the ball balooned over the bar.
The lack of killer instinct in front of goal came back to haunt City right at the death when Galaxy substitute Wayde Lekay completed a smash-and-grab for the hosts when he finished off a move that had started from the halfway on the stroke of fulltime.
City substitute Thabo Ndoda certainly has to take plenty of the blame for the Galaxy equaliser as it was the experienced midfielder that rushed into a tackle and completely missed it which created the space for Rockets to launch their decisive attack.
IOL Sport